Agony Aunt
by QueenChung
Summary: Bella Swan works at fashion magazine, Eclipse, writing about the seasons best styles. After innocently replying to one of the Agony Aunt section's letters concerning a certain bronze haired brother, she accidentally causes more problems than she meant to solve. How will her advice help her now?
1. Chapter 1

_"In fact, may you be dull- if that is what a skilled, vigilant, flexible, unemphasised, enthralled, catching of happiness is called."-Philip Larkin_

* * *

I stared longingly at my keyboard, ghosting my fingertips over the keys, trying to find the right words to ease the blow to my readers that the beautiful calfskin _Chanel _ankle boots sat on my desk in between my many piles of notes, deadline reminders and unfinished articles only cost a mere $1158.

I sighed heavily, realising my creative juices were probably limited by the raging hangover I was experiencing and immediately regretted the decision to drink one and a half bottles of red wine with my Ben & Jerry's last night.

It took me another painful five minutes of searching for a better word to describe _'you'll have to sell your fucking kidney to buy these shoes'_, until I decided it was time for a well-deserved coffee break with my best friend.

Angela worked on the advice floor of _Eclipse_, responding to the many desperate letters she received regarding fashion or personal issues. She was perfect for the job, she was kind, selfless and the most understanding woman I'd ever met, in fact, the only time I'd ever managed to get her to share some of the crazy stories she'd received was when I'd given her enough liquor to not know what year it was.

She didn't look up when knocked on her desk to signal my arrival;

"Can't. Busy."

"What?! Come on, there's only ten minutes till lunch Ange!"

"Yes, and that's ten minutes that I can spend helping someone in need," she took a moment to send me an annoyed look through the thick lenses of her glasses.

"Your _best friend _is in need! I've been dreaming of a double tall soy latte since I got here! Please?"

"If you want it that much then you can go on your own, I'll be literally ten minutes Bella," she laughed at me.

I took a seat from an empty desk and sat down next to her, eyeing up the large pile of letters in her file tray,

"Jeez Ange I don't know how you do all this."

She noticed what I was looking at and sighed, "I need a raise."

I picked the first letter on the pile and noticed it was beautifully handwritten, the majority of the pieces that were sent in are through email and printed off to prevent Angela's eyes from, and I quote _"turning square and falling out of their sockets from staring at a screen all day"_.

I watched carefully to check that she hadn't noticed what I was holding before I began reading the letter:

_Eclipse Magazine corp._

_350 Madison Ave_

_New York_

_NY 10017_

_Dear Agony Aunt, _

_I've written this letter many times before, but it's only with the support of my mother that with this letter I hold the knowledge that I will send it._

_This letter concerns my brother; he's never found true love and I'm worried that he never will. _

_I suppose I should start from the beginning._

_My parents met when my father was training to be a doctor and my mother broke her leg falling off a ladder in the midst of decorating, the moment they set eyes on each other; they gave their hearts to each other. You see, the same thing happened with my eldest brother and me; we met out partners by coincidence and fell in love at first sight. I've decided its genetics, although the brother in question just calls me crazy. _

_My brother did once believe he was in love, but love is about a balance between giving and taking but all she did was take and stupidly, all he did was give. It wasn't until he realised she was having an affair that he saw the truth and hasn't looked for love since._

_I just want my brother to be happy, and now he's almost thirty and hasn't dated anyone since the incident but I know that love will give him the happiness that love gave me._

_What do I do?_

_Please help, _

_Alice (I would prefer for my name to be kept private but I have left my email for any further contact)_

_Thank you._

I suddenly understood why Angela chose to do this, even if I couldn't understand how she didn't crumble under the weight of other peoples troubles I could understand her need to help those who practically laid themselves and their problems out to her.

I looked at Angela to see her still furiously typing away before carefully folding up the letter and placing it in my jacket pocket.

A few minutes later she turned to me. "Ready to go?"

I smiled and stood up quickly, the letter burning a hole in my pocket,

"Yep!"

The hours leading up to the end of my shift passed slowly, I eventually finished the article about my beloved _Chanel _boots and had reluctantly placed them in the storage cupboard behind my boss', Victoria's, office. Although working for _Eclipse _had its privileges such as being able to stare at pretty dresses and carefully trying on shoes that cost more than I earned in a month, sadly those precious babies weren't allowed a step out of the building. It was like waving a bone in front a dog before throwing it into the fiery pits of hell. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration for the storage cupboard.

It took all my will power when I got home to resist the urge to write an email to Alice; it was all I'd been thinking about since I read the letter. How would I reply? What advice should I give? I'd decided during work that my reason to being anxious about my reply to Alice was because it was my first real 'Agony Aunt' moment, of course I've been asked for advice before but never like this. Like when Renee asked me which shoes went best with her dress, I'm sure my opinion wasn't that important to her as she went for the black instead of the red, against my advice. Whereas Alice was asking for genuine advice that might not only affect her, but also her brother.

How on earth did Angela cope.

I searched the fridge for something to eat only to find a few eggs and a plastic bag containing already grated cheese. I grimaced and wrote a reminder to go grocery shopping before cooking up an omelette.

I stared at the clock. 6:27pm.

_Surely now I could write a reply? Do I even know what I want to say yet?_

I sighed in annoyance with myself and reached for the laptop, as it powered up I began to run through what I was going to say and how I was going to say it before _finally _giving my first Agony Aunt reply.

**To: acullen **

**From: **

**Subject: Agony Aunt**

**Dear Alice, **

**Instead of publishing your letter I have decided to send a direct response to the email you gave me.**

**I'm afraid I'm going to struggle to give really helpful advice without asking more questions, and I'm sure you don't want that. I'm worried that you might be looking too far into this, maybe your brother is still healing from a broken heart? Remember that we all take different paths to being happy, and some may be longer than others. **

**There's no doubt that obviously you know your brother better than I do, and if you think that he would find happiness in a romantic relationship then maybe you just have to send him out there? With the technology that we have these days, online dating is working wonders for so many people, as well as being quick and easy it also skips the messy bits, like going on a blind date to find that he has a ginger goatee. If he doesn't fancy that then you could introduce him to some new people, go to a bar, a coffee shop or even a music concert. **

**It depends on how invested you want to be, if you want to control everything to ensure his happiness then I advise you do what **_**you **_**think; if you know your brother well enough then you should do pretty good. But if you want no part in it then maybe just a simple talk with him, tell him what's on your mind and what's worrying; let him decide.**

**I wish you and your brother all the best,**

**Agony Aunt**

I reread the letter, making sure it contained everything an Agony Aunt would say and hoping I hadn't crossed a line. I had no idea what kind of a person Alice was other than that she was worried about her older brother, so I didn't want to offend her.

Just then the phone rang; I smiled as I read the Caller ID and picked up,

"Hey baby."

"Hello my beautiful fiancé, I'm just about to head into a meeting but I was dying to hear your voice before I heard anything about profits."

I giggled before saying, "I miss you so much, come home to me."

"I will Bells, don't worry. Anyway I've got to go, talk to you later."

I quickly hit send on my email before replying.

"Bye Jake."

* * *

_**My first fanfiction! Please let me know what you think. Good? Bad? Ugly? ;) **_

**_Criticism and praise is always welcome._**

_**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all characters**_


	2. Chapter 2

_ "Down on my knee, I fumble for the phone, read the silver bullets of your kiss. Take this...and this...and this...and this...and this..." -Carol Ann Duffy_

* * *

This week I was staring at a pair of black, _Vivienne Westwood_ Roman flats, which I'd cleverly named, my "Vivienne Westwood bondage shoes". Thankfully these required a slightly less powerful adjective to describe 'pricey' as they _only _cost $625.

I proof read my article for the third time as I thought about the past week; me and Alice had been emailing back and forth since Friday and it had become part of my daily routine to send a reply to her, whether it was about fashion (I soon found out that she'd gone to fashion school too), _Eclipse_ or her brother.

Alice was more than willing to share information about her brother whenever she had the chance. For example, when I complained about the stresses of planning a wedding, she shared with me the details of what her brother's wedding was supposed to entail until the 'skank' cheated on him.

I still didn't know the name of the woman who'd made him so emotionally isolated; instead, she was always referred to as some rather colourful names. It was one of the few things I didn't know about her brother's life.

His name was Edward Anthony Cullen; he was thirty two years old and lived in Seattle working as a CEO for some business corporation. I also knew that he was currently living off In-N-Out burgers because he couldn't cook to save his life; his favourite cereal was Cinnamon Toast Crunch and he had a soft spot for classical music.

As the information she was giving me became more personal and more weird, I began to wonder whether Edward had any idea that Alice was sharing this kind of information with someone that was, allegedly, an Agony Aunt. I knew that he didn't know about the original letter that led to mine and Alice's growing friendship; however, I'm almost positive that no one would appreciate their own sister relaying this kind of information to someone that they don't know.

But I was worried that this kind of prying would make Alice feel uncomfortable about talking to me, although it had only been a week, I was quickly becoming close to Alice and I appreciated the chance to share worries such as having a wedding at such short notice without being burdened by the possibility that she could tell Jacob about the extent of my problems.

The fact was that I lived almost 3,000 miles away from Alice, I had no idea about her situation and I'd never met her or her brother. For all I knew, she could simply be telling me information about him that he tells everyone.

I giggled out loud at the thought of a grown man walking up to a girl at a bar with the line "Hey my name's Edward and I _love_ Cinnamon Toast Crunch".

Either way, I did my best to keep the subject away from anything that could have some connection to her brother which would ultimately lead to more uncomfortable attempts at changing the conversation.

My caffeine fix was downgraded to the Coffee Bean as the Starbucks round the block was being refurbished, this meant my overpriced coffee was bitter and any chances of free Wi-Fi were restricted by some stupid 'loyalty card'. On the other hand, from the small corner in which we were sat, I could only just here the soft crooning of Otis Redding coming from the counter.

Angela was staring longingly at the dark haired cashier who was currently helping an old lady through the heavy door which led into the coffee shop-oh how Prince Charming. He'd also carefully scribbled a mobile number on the base of Angela's cup, but I was still deciding on whether or not to tell her this, depending on whether she'd actually provide me with some kind of company.

"Hey Angie, tell me how old you are again because you're acting like a thirteen year old", I smiled softly at her when she threw a sugar packet at me.

"He smiled at me when he handed me my coffee, do you think that means anything? Or does he smile at everyone?" She looked at the reflection of the glass frame behind me, trying to pat down any stray hairs that had been dislodged by the wind.

"I'm sure he was into you, Angie, why wouldn't he be? You look gorgeous by the way", I said, reaching forward to bring her hand down that was still furiously trying to make her ponytail look neater.

She sighed, looking over again at the counter.

"Go talk to him." I urged.

She looked over at me warily, "I don't think so Bella."

"Remember those self-help books you were telling me about? Surely you didn't read all those just to become shy when something like this happens. Talk to him."

"You think so?"

I glanced at the counter to find an unoccupied cashier staring at my best friend, "Definitely."

I watched as Angela slowly walked up to him, before my phone buzzed. I pulled it out, expecting an email from work about my article, only to find a notification from Facebook telling me I had a friend request from Alice Cullen.

I groaned inwardly at the internet speed, waiting for her profile to load, cursing that blasted loyalty card, before realising that this would be the first time that I saw the face of the woman I'd been talking to all week.

I didn't know what I was expecting when the picture became clear, but it wasn't that; Alice had a flawless, pale face framed by jet black spiky hair, dark eyes that were perfectly highlighted by a professional standard of makeup, while on her petite frame hung a bright summer dress, that on anyone else would look outlandish, but she made it look beautiful.

Her face radiated happiness as she stood next to a man with a shaggy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, both looking at the camera with toothy grins on their face.

I guessed the man was her fiancé, and as I hovered over his face I found the name Jasper Whitlock. This was what began my fifteen minute Facebook stalk of Alice Cullen.

I come from a nosy family, my mother was constantly asking questions and receiving gossip from the local 'book club' (not that they ever read any books), she was fascinated by other people's lives and thrived off reality TV shows. My father was a cop, which means that it was basically his job to find out about other people- and he would indulge in the local gossip every now and again. And although I've tried my best to hold back my 'inquisitive nature', I just can't help myself.

I searched through pictures, posts, birthday messages and in everything I saw, she always seemed incredibly happy. I rarely used social media; however, whenever I did post anything it wasn't exactly rainbows and unicorns. In fact, I began to think of what she would find if she looked at my profile, probably some pictures with Jake, nostalgic posts in which I've been tagged by people I haven't spoken to since elementary school, or ever did. It's probably not the best impression I could have given to her.

As I scrolled further into the year of 2011, a though occurred to me.

Edward.

I should look for Edward.

I mean, of course it's only logical that I should put a face to the man that I've heard so much about, right?

I convinced myself that this was a valid reason for my stalking as I clicked on her friends list.

With just one letter, I found him.

Edward Cullen.

Just underneath it was Emmet Cullen.

_That must be the other brother, _I thought. But he wasn't who I wanted to see.

Excitedly, I clicked onto his profile.

Edward Cullen, born in 1982, CEO at Cullen Industries, blah blah blah, let's get to the good stuff.

This time I groaned out load as the picture, painstakingly slowly, began to load. And when it finally did, I gasped.

The man in the picture was…beautiful.

I couldn't think of another word to describe him but beautiful.

His face looked as though it had been sculpted by the Greek Goddess, Aphrodite, with high cheekbones that could cut you like a knife and emerald eyes framed by thick lashes. His copper hair looked as though it had been ragged around a few times by his hands and screamed to be played with. He was looking at something behind the camera and smiling softly. Again. Beautiful.

My search was quickly interrupted by Angela's excited squeals as she pulled me up to show me that the cashier had actually managed to write his number onto a piece of paper instead of a coffee cup this time.

I moaned as Jake lifted my hips off the bed to get a better angle.

"Ungh baby I missed you so much", he growled into the crook of my neck.

I threw my head back, allowing my body to succumb to the pleasure as he kept thrusting.

"That's it Bells, come for me."

My fingernails drew lines down his back as he pressed his fingers to my most sensitive area.

I could feel my climax begin to coil inside as I gasped and whimpered, but, as usual, Jacob got there first.

He cursed loudly before pulling out completely and rolling onto his back, meanwhile, I could still feel myself pulsing as he cradled me from behind.

I resisted the urge to sigh at the thought of going to sleep unsettled again, the last few months had shown that this was becoming a common occurrence and I was beginning to wonder whether it was him or me. I made a mental note to google anything to help the situation as I resisted the urge to tuck my hands between my thighs.

I woke up gasping and moaning, I could feel pleasure seeping between my thighs as I glanced at the clock; 2:43 am.

I must have woken Jake up with the noises I was making as he shuffled to my side of the bed, murmuring something about "still not finished huh".

But it wasn't Jacob I could see, memories of copper hair and piercing green eyes entered my mind as Jake pulled me over to straddle his thighs.

That was the first night I dreamt about Edward Cullen.

The second time I was woken up was six minutes before my alarm went off, to the sound of a message alert from my phone.

I groaned as I sleepily reached out to my night stand to turn the damned thing on silent. But not before I saw the notification.

**Edward Cullen has accepted your friend request**

What. The. Fuck.

* * *

**I would have liked to get this chapter up earlier but the past week has been so busy that the only chance I could get to write was at one in the morning.**

**Anyway leave me some comments, I really appreciated your previous reviews :). Thanks a lot. **


	3. Chapter 3

_"Though I had not been born at all, he'd never have looked at you." -Christina Georgina Rossetti_

* * *

Those seven words mocked me as I gaped sleepily at my phone.

All of a sudden various scenarios were invading my brain as I felt Jacob stir beside me.

_How on earth had this happened?_

I tried to recall a moment where I might have sent him a friend request, but came up blank. Had someone hacked into my account? Surely if anyone were to hack into my account, they'd probably be sending nudes; not sending a friend request to Edward Cullen.

I let out a worried sigh and stared at the screen a little longer, before setting my phone on the dresser and walking into the bathroom.

Staring in the bathroom mirror, the guilt I felt from last night was apparent in my eyes. It was wrong for me to think of another man when I was with my fiancé; me and Jake had been together for _five years, _it held absolutely no comparison to the five minutes I spent on some guy's Facebook account.

I knew I had to do something about the whole bad sex thing; if we want a successful marriage we have to trust each other.

I stared at the bathroom door, thinking of how I could approach such a subject:

"Hey, no offense, but some guy I don't even know is better in bed than you."

I groaned inwardly at my morning stupidity, deciding instead to get in the shower before trying to make any coherent conversation.

As I let the warm water beat down on my skin, I took a moment to think about Edward Cullen.

I thought briefly about whether it was my clumsy fingers that had accidently pressed the 'friend' button. It had happened before, but that was only an accidental like on a high school friend's status.

I mentally cursed the phone screen's sensitivity while massaging the fruity shampoo into my hair.

As I stepped out the shower, I told myself that a new friend on Facebook was the least of my worries, and absolutely nothing would come of it.

Bigger problems were waiting outside the bathroom in the form of my fiancé, Jake.

My, _loving, attractive_…oblivious fiancé… a fiancé that was currently begging for me to open the door so he could use the toilet.

* * *

It was a Saturday. This meant I had a chance to get some serious grocery shopping to last us the week.

I'd missed breakfast this morning to try and avoid the impending conversation Jacob, and the simmering guilt wasn't mixing well with my empty stomach as I drove to the grocery store.

Doing my day to day tasks felt different today and I was uncomfortable with the little niggling in the back of my mind; almost as though someone was knocking on the locked door into my brain and reminding me about my misconduct.

I finished my shopping quickly and took an outside seat at the Coffee Bean, ordering a muffin before calling the person I needed reassurance from most.

"Bella?"

"Hey Mom."

"How are you sweetie? It's been a long time!" Her laugh eased the incoming headache I could feel.

"I'm okay, how are you?"

"Oh I'm fine, can't complain. How's Jake?"

I sighed, "Oh Mom, I'm a terrible person."

"What, why? Are you okay Bella? Has he hurt you?"

"What? No Mom of course not. It's just-" I closed my eyes and let out a long breath, " last night, me and Jake-well, uhm, I thought about someone else."

"What?"

"I thought about someone else, when we were…you know."

"Oh! Is that it? Really!"

I picked at my muffin, "_Is that it?_ Mom-" I glanced around at the other customers and lowered my voice, "I thought about another man when I had sex with my fiancé! What more do you want?"

"Oh honey it's not like you cheated on him, is he cute?"

"Mom! I don't want to think about him!"

"Well that didn't stop you last night," she laughed.

I sighed, I should have gone to Angela.

"I feel really bad about it Mom."

"Bella, women do it _all _the time, I'd be lying if I told you I didn't think about Ryan Gosling a few times when I'm with Phil!"

"Oh god Mom…however awkward that is to think about that, that's Ryan Gosling! This is some guy from Facebook!"

There was silence as I ate my muffin.

"… Is he attainable?"

"He lives in Seattle and I've never met him, so no not really."

"Oh well that's fine! Listen Bells, I need to go soon but please don't worry about this honey, it's not as bad as you think. Women do it all the time and certainly won't cause a divorce; you haven't cheated on Jacob, Bella."

"Okay. Thanks Mom."

I paid the bill and drove home, thinking about the conversation.

It wasn't cheating was it?

No, it was one time and will never, _ever _happen again, I'll make sure of that.

I sighed, _it was pretty good though…No!_

I felt my guilt dissipate as I drove into the empty driveway; Jake was out.

* * *

It wasn't till I was sat watching _Real Housewives of Atlanta _that I felt a buzz in my pocket.

**Message from Edward Cullen on Facebook.**

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, no! _

The saying 'out of sight, out of mind' sprang to mind as I sat on my phone and stared at the TV screen, all of a sudden NeNe slating Kim wasn't as interesting anymore, but the much smaller screen currently under my butt was much more interesting.

I couldn't help it as I unlocked my phone; just to take a peek.

_E: Hello, are you the Bella that my sister won't stop talking about?:) _

Okay a smiley face is platonic, right?

_B: Haha, I think so. I hope they're all good things?:) _

_E: Of course! I don't think I've heard one bad word about you, I was actually pretty glad when you added me so I could see if it was all true. :) _

_B: Of course it's true! Where should I start? When I'm not head of the UN, I'm dedicating my free time to charity and I'm obviously pro-green!;)_

Winky face. Platonic.

_E: Haha sounds exhausting! I guess I owe Alice $20, you are perfect ;) _

I left an eight agonizing minutes before replying, I could feel the guilt headache starting again.

_B: I'm a true advocate for independent women._

That was it, the smiley faces were gone. I was an engaged woman for goodness sake!

I saw a pair of headlights turning up the drive and considered talking to Jake about the incident last night, but decided against it when I saw who was getting out of the passenger side.

Leah Clearwater.

_Seriously?!_

I watched from my spot on the couch as Jacob and his high school girlfriend laughed their way up the porch steps.

"Hey, Bella! Look who came into town!" He shouted loudly, obviously thinking I was upstairs.

I planted a smile on my face and rounded the corner into the hallway.

"Oh wow! Leah, it's been so long!" I did my best to sound cheery.

"Yeah, I know. I was so surprised when Jake told me you two were still together."

"Yep, we're engaged!" Jake stated happily, oblivious to the tension in Leah's voice.

Me and Leah didn't have the…brightest past. Me and Jacob started dating about two months after he broke up with Leah. Within the first three weeks of our relationship she did the best to make my life a living hell; since she was a family friend of the Black's she would come over for BBQ's and such, bragging about the many adventures her and Jake got up to when they were together while telling me how I did nothing to compare to her when I was alone.

Then she moved away and I hadn't seen her since.

I felt sick as I watched Jake ask her to stay for dinner.

"Oh, I was just going to get a takeout, I'm sure she doesn't want to stay for that Jake," I was trying to do my best not to let her stay without seeming like a bitch.

"Well of course _I _prefer home cooking, but I'm happy to have a cheat night," she sneered.

"Great! I'll go order it!" Jake was still oblivious to the awkward feel in the air.

Leah sat down in the arm chair diagonally opposite mine, her dark eyes were filled with spite.

"So Leah, what brings you into town?" I was making polite conversation.

"Seth told me my father's condition was getting worse so I took a week off work to come visit him."

I wanted to tell her that her father's condition had been getting worse all year, that every Sunday either me or Jake would do his grocery shopping; just to take some of the weight off poor Seth's shoulders.

But I didn't.

"That was nice of you, where do you work?"

"I work in a garage, for now."

I wanted to tell her that there were plenty of jobs going for the local garage that was only up the road from her dad's house.

But I didn't.

"Cool, sounds interesting." I lied.

She made no more effort to keep up conversation; not asking what I did or how my family was. I didn't care.

Jake came back in and started talking to Leah about cars or something else as uninteresting.

With no desire to chip in, I pulled out my phone.

_E: How does that song go again? My sister used to be obsessed with that group, knew all the dance moves and everything. Sometimes my brother can get her to show them at New Year's Eve. Do you have any siblings?_

I smiled, deciding this would be my conversation for the evening.


End file.
